USS Gettysburg (CG-64) — the Aegis cruiser that holds the van

2026-11-04SHIPS WORLD

USS Gettysburg (CG-64) — the Aegis cruiser that holds the van

Grey low-poly model of the guided-missile cruiser on a white background: a long wedge-shaped hull with a dark deck plate above it, two boxy superstructure blocks, two funnels, two thin masts and two small gun turrets at one end

Every carrier needs somebody out front. In Hornet Bay that somebody is USS Gettysburg (CG-64), a 173 m Ticonderoga-class cruiser that holds the van of the battle group and keeps a Seahawk parked on her stern.

She is the first grey shape you meet when you come in over the fleet, so she deserves a proper introduction.

The real ship

Gettysburg was built by Bath Iron Works in Maine, laid down in August 1988, launched in July 1989 and commissioned on 22 June 1991. She is a Ticonderoga-class Aegis cruiser, 567 feet (173 m) end to end. Her first deployment was to the Mediterranean in 1992–93 with the USS John F. Kennedy battle group, and in 1994 — the year this sim is set — she helped rescue passengers from the burning cruise ship Achille Lauro off Somalia. Hornet Bay is an alternate-history tribute, not affiliated with the Navy or the shipbuilders, but we borrowed her name for good reason; the battle-group post tells that story.

In the sim

Length: 173 m, to scale with the real hull; beam 17 m.
Station: 2,400 yards dead ahead of the carrier, on the centreline.
Keeping up: escorts sprint when they drift more than 500 off station, then ease back into the carrier’s speed once they are within 80.
Silhouette: two funnels, two masts, two turrets forward and a helo deck aft.
The Seahawk: NAVY 701 lifts from the cruiser’s stern and flies lazy circuits round the group. When a submarine contact is within reach she goes hunting; see the sub-hunters post.

On the bench

The cruiser is in the gallery and in the Print Bay as a 220 mm model at 1:786, the picket ahead of the Big E, turrets fore and helo deck aft. The screenshot above is that model: unpainted, blocky and honest about it. The Seahawk has her own page, too: the SH-60.

Try this: take off, then turn back and fly low down the line of the battle group. Spot Gettysburg ahead of the carrier, then watch her stern for the Seahawk lifting off. Remember the standing rule: a mission only counts if you return to the point where it started.

— HB